France

Sunrise at the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.

FROM ELIZABETH!

What a year! We celebrated our first anniversary in Paris, France, on September 19, and couldn't get over what we had accomplished. We've traveled around the world, climbed some of the world's tallest mountains, lived in a car for two months, became mildly acustomed to squat toilets and endured tick bite fever. I am Dave's GPS, helping him get from point A to point B, but he is my inspiration to keep going, keep traveling, keep seeing, keep exploring, to keep learning and keep believing that there are endless opportunities around every corner. Of course there were days when we wanted to be oceans apart, but with a little compromise we always found ourselves ready to keep rolling.

Always moving!

I tried to be creative for our anniversary combining Dave's love of chocolate and biking, but it turned out to be a comedy of errors. I mapped out the best chocolatiers in Paris and took Dave to rent a Velib bike, which are on every street of Paris. Locals rent them by the hour to get around town. Unfortunately, Velib did not like my credit card.

Note to those traveling to Europe - chip and pin credit cards are in and if you don't have one, expect to get denied at a few locations, like we did trying to rent a Velib bicycle.

So we did the sweet tour by foot!

Of course, the first chocolate shop was closed.

Chocolate crayons bigger than our budget : - )

Dave waits patiently in line for the best chocolate in town.

On our foot tour we passed the Louvre,

and the Arc de Triumphe.

We followed the noise to the biggest techno parade in the world.

At night, Dave arranged dinner at a French bistro called Le Petite Prince. I surprised him by stripping myself of fleece and putting on a colorful new dress from London. I felt great, but let's just say Dave preferred my fleece. (Style is in the eye of the beholder : - )

Anniversary dinner at Le Petite Prince.

Paris at night.

FROM DAVID!

Wow! I inspired all that! The funny thing is Elizabeth inspires all the same in me. I guess it was fitting that we celebrated our anniversary in Paris with it's art museums and music, beautiful sculptures and architecture, and delicious food. Elizabeth also knows that I don't mind at all when her gifts get screwed up. For one, it's the thought that counts. But more importantly, it also relieves all the pressure on me to give the perfect gifts! (It gets better too... In the next blog, we get stood up by the flamenco instructor who was to give us a lesson for my birthday present.)

The Thinker by Rodin

The Kiss by Rodin

Paris' Statue of Liberty

Ah, the delicious bakeries in Paris!

The past year of traveling has been wonderful. We've learned so much about the people and places we've visited as well as about each other. Everyone's first question is how we didn't kill each other spending 24/7 together for a year. Well, there were probably a few times we came close, but we always remember that it's much more fun to laugh at each others quirks and shortcomings. Given our abundance in those categories, we provide each other endless amounts of entertainment.

Our first picture together on March 9, 2007, in San Francisco where I surprised her. We met March 2, 2007, in Boston. We've come a long way since then!

- Elizabeth & Dave